Blending & CIP
Blending & CIP
In a variety of blending and CIP projects, I introduced mix-proof valve technology into a plant operations. Using a matrix arrangement of valve-clusters provided unlimited flexibility and automation.Mix-proof valves incorporate the principles of a double-block and bleed arrangement into a single (expensive) valve. They offer the mixing protection that a block and bleed arrangement provides, with improved ability to clean the now-very-small bleed area. The valves are built to sanitary standards, and the ability to arrange them in a matrix allows you to port any of several sources to any of several destinations.
This was the first use of mix-proof valves in our company, and may have been the first use in the citrus industry. Our first use of these valves was part of the bin bypass system, allowing us to alternate the filling of different feed tanks, and to send the product of any feed tank to any evaporator. This allowed us to automate the rotation of these feed tanks to effect the bin-bypass system.
With this success, we expanded with several additional matrices to automate our blending and CIP systems. Touch screen monitors allowed us to control the entire system with a single operator and dramatically reduce cleanup time and eliminate costly errors.
I should pause here to mention several of the success factors of this blending automation project. It was a true partnership from corporate engineering to the key operators. A project team was formed that included several operators from the start. Every pipe layout, valve and operating screen was reviewed over and over with this cross-functional team.
During construction, the corporate engineer was on site every other week, with me (the plant engineer) covering all details in the alternating week. The production manager, the quality manager and the operator had visibility and input into every process and procedure.
The result was perhaps no surprise: the single smoothest startup of any project our company had performed. The operators already knew every feature and nuance on startup because they had helped design them. There were very few punchlist items because so many people could help correct minor errors as the system was being built. It ramped up to full speed and reliability literally in days.
My last mix-proof valve project at this company used just a single mix-proof valve and a couple of regular valves, but it changed they way they will clean their evaporators forever. Using the evaporator heat to keep the cleaning water hot is effective and the common practice in the industry. But as a portion of this cleaning water evaporates at each stage, there is less and less volume remaining for cleanup. The very last portion of the flow, back to the blend tanks, has low volume and low flowrate, and that pipe is difficult to clean. I designed a method to merge the hot condensate water back, during cleanup, while safely keeping it separated during production, totally eliminating the cleaning problem without the addition of tanks or pumps.
As an interesting footnote, while teaching computer classes (mostly to retirees), I met Dale A. Seiberling in one of my classes. It turns out that Dale was one of the early pioneers of CIP. In our discussions after classes, he was able to teach me additional pipe layout tricks (like tying together the two ends of the valve matrix) to make our systems even easier to clean. (Look him up as the lead author of Chapter 15 of the Handbook of Food Engineering Practice or any of dozens of dairy related publications.)
